But last week proved that if you’re flying to or from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport between now and October, any storm is a good reason to double check your flight’s schedule.

That’s because runway reconstruction in the Twin Cities is crimping the airport’s capacity.

Last Friday’s Sun Country flight that was delayed on the tarmac for six hours at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York started out as an hour delay due to the construction in Minneapolis-St. Paul. During that one-hour delay, a storm descended on JFK and an inconvenience became an ordeal.

Mendota Heights-based Sun Country decided to put a four-hour time limit on how long an aircraft can wait on the tarmac, and Gadek doesn’t make any excuses for what happened Friday.

“We got started down a path, and kept going down a path that led to a poor decision in hindsight,” he said.

A stretch of the northparallel runway at Minneapolis-St. Paul that was poured during the late 1960s is being dug up and replaced, which brings the airport down to three runways. The airport says the project will lead to average delays of no more than 15 minutes — the same as when all four runways are used. But when storms come up or clouds roll in, air traffic controllers have fewer options and have to slow down flights.

In 2007, the last time the airport did a major reconstruction project, “it ended up being awful,” said Patrick Hogan, an airport spokesman. “It was one of the rainiest Augusts on record, with lots of cancellations and delays.”

Three days of rain and storms last week tested the airport again. The weather slowed down construction a bit, Hogan said, though the project still is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Sun Country’s experience last week followed another high-profile, five-hour-plus tarmac delay for a Continental Airlines flight in Rochester, Minn., earlier this month.

In the Sun Country delay, Gadek was consulted about the situation at JFK at the four-hour mark, which is Sun Country policy. At one point, the Sun Country plane was third in line to take off. At the four-hour mark, the pilots told Gadek the mood in the passenger cabin was good and the weather was expected to clear. They decided to remain in line on the tarmac.

“But it took an hour for the weather to clear, and then 45 minutes to process arrivals” that had been stacked up in the sky, Gadek said. “If I had known it was going to be 1:45, I would have said go back to the gate.”

Sun Country’s policy move to return to the terminal after four hours sets it apart from other major air carriers. The airline already assesses the situation hourly of each flight waiting to take off, Gadek said.

“If at two hours we’re No. 25 in line and storms are moving in, we’ll prepare to go back.” But the four-hour time limit is a hard and fast rule that a pilot can’t override.

The latest Sun Country episode takes place as the airline’s current management is asking for a third extension of its exclusive right to reorganize the company, which is operating in bankruptcy protection.

Sun Country now wants until Dec. 4 to file its reorganization plan, and until Feb. 5 to get acceptance. A hearing on that request will be held in U.S. District Court early next month.

The move could be tied to a desire by current management to emerge without a sale of the airline and remain at the helm. Gadek declined to comment about the bankruptcy process.

The airline’s court filing says Sun Country “sustained a relatively small loss in the second quarter. Due to the reconfiguration of (Sun Country’s) business away from over-reliance on scheduled service, (the airline) has returned to profitability in the third quarter.”

But some creditors are losing confidence in the airline’s management, said Robert Kugler, an attorney who represents Sun Country’s unsecured creditors.

“The current creditors would like to take a shot” at a reorganization plan, he said.

Sun Country, which was owned by Petters Group Worldwide, filed for bankruptcy protection in October as the Minnetonka-based parent company imploded.

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